A
course titled "The Culture of Nazi
Germany" is reviving too much painful
history for Kennesaw State University.
School officials pulled the course from
the fall catalog after a top official said
he was concerned the name --- if not the
content itself --- could revive an image
of the university as being anti-Semitic.

Ed Rugg, the chief academic
officer, cited five discrimination
lawsuits claiming anti-Semitism filed
against the university by former
professors. A course title and description
emphasizing "Nazi," Rugg said in an
electronic memo, could be misinterpreted
and has the potential to scare off
donors.

The lawsuits last decade "took a severe
toll on KSU's reputation in the Jewish
community, our personnel and financial
resources, and our prospects for private
fund-raising," Rugg wrote in an e-mail to
the department chairwoman who authorized
the course. ". . . that is not an
experience that I, you, or the rest of the
university want or can afford to repeat
again."

Rugg and other university officials say
the course will be reintroduced for spring
semester, after a more lengthy review of
its approach. But weeks after the
withdrawal, the decision continues to
upset faculty and students. Professors see
a lack of regard for academic freedom to
delve into sensitive subjects. Students
see censorship.

"I don't like people determining for me
what classes I can take," said Rob
Anke, a senior majoring in sociology.
"If it's not worth studying, no one will
take the class."

The course was created by Sabine
Smith, an assistant professor of
German who has worked at the university
for two years. Smith, a native of Germany,
holds a doctorate in German studies from
the University of California at Davis.

Smith said she had enlisted the
assistance of other faculty, and
sought suggestions
from an Atlanta-based Jewish
organization before the course was
cancelled.

"It had never been my intention to
glorify the Nazi regime," she said Friday.
"Why did this phenomenon happen and will
it happen again, especially in Germany?
The answers to these questions are still
being contested today. . . . KSU students
of German studies should know more than
the stereotypes regarding the Hitler
regime."

The course was designed for
upperclassmen, and would have focused on
the legacy of the Nazi regime on
modern-day Germany. Smith selected as the
primary text "Shifting Memories: The Nazi
Past in the New Germany," published by a
reputable press.

Elaine McAllister, the 10-year
chairwoman of the Department of Foreign
Languages, approved the course as a fall
offering. She did so without a formal
review by senior faculty within the
department, and without passing the
outline to the dean of the college.
Typically such review is required for
permanent courses. But McAllister said the
practice for a "special topics" course
offered once or twice by professors --- as
this was designed --- is to allow the
department chair to decide.

"I never questioned her ability to
deliver the course content," McAllister
said. "If I had, I wouldn't have signed
off on it."

McAllister and Rugg dispute who made
the final call to pull the course.
McAllister says she was told to withdraw
the course. Rugg says she agreed it needed
more review. Both said the decision
followed a complaint made by someone on
campus.

The university is committed to
presenting the course, if it is properly
prepared and reviewed, Rugg said.

"We're not afraid to approach this
topic," he said. "I think this course is
valuable. . . . If I'm anything, I'm too
sensitive. Because of the context of Cobb
County, because of the context of our
recent lawsuits."

Many universities and colleges have
courses that cover the Third Reich, the
Holocaust, and related topics. Harvard
University last spring offered a course
entitled "Mass Culture in Nazi Germany:
The Power of Images and Illusions."

But with the best intentions,
professors can end up lending credence to
the Nazi culture, said Jay Kaiman,
Southeast regional director for the
Anti-Defamation
League. "It has to be a course that's
very well structured," he said. "And you
have to know what you're doing." Academics
who support the course at KSU describe its
withdrawal as a case of
hyper-sensitivity.

"My interpretation is the
administration panicked," said Melvyn
Fein, a professor of sociology. "They
were afraid of what the reaction would be.
With undue haste, they pulled this
thing."

The image of the university is a
concern, McAllister said, but so is
academic integrity.

"We should worry about the reputation
of the institution, because it reflects on
us. But, as a university, if we are
supposed to educate rather than
indoctrinate, there are issues we need to
address with students in a responsible
manner. And I think that's the manner in
which Dr. Smith intended to do
it."

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